I hope you all are enjoying for Valentine's today. Unfortunately, it does not seem like Detective Conan (Case Closed) is not. After all, none of the remaining 80 episodes (86 according to FUNimation's count) that have been dubbed features a Valentine's case. However, another special mark has been reached. There are only 6 episodes, if episode 47 (Japanese count) is included, of the television broadcast remaining, which means that getting to episodes that were not broadcasted on Adult Swim is drawing nearer. Today, I am going to review Case Closed episode 45 (Detective Conan episode 44).

As I have given a series synopsis in an earlier post, I will not go over it again.

Jimmy, Richard, and Rachel are out and about, driving through mountains, when they meet somebody who runs a well-known company, who got a flat tire.

When they get him home, the trio eats with that person's family. However, while they are eating, a bomb goes off and their new acquaintance is found dead in what seems like the only room affected by the explosion. Now, Jimmy gang must figure out who was responsible from among so many that seem to have a motive.

I thought this was okay. The case was somewhat setup well. For a case that is a filler episode, according to Detective Conan World, though, this was pretty decent, but not the best. Like episode 42 (Japanese count), I do not think I am creditable enough to determine how much was obvious because I remembered whom the killer who was, their motive, and how it was done. I think it is funny that I remember so much about a case that I was not too thrilled about. At the same time, and as I believe I have said before, when I originally saw this series, I was not that well acquainted with the detective, mystery, and crime fiction genres. Taking that into account, I can probably say that I did enjoy this at one point. I certainly thought the bomb materials used was quite interesting. After all, there are many things that can kill a person in their own home. However, since my degree is in the field of computers, I cannot really say if a bomb can really be made from the materials mentioned. Still, humans have been dreaming up ways to kill others for a very long time and coming up with a bomb like this is not too surprising. Another thing that I liked was that the victim's daughter said that she and the love of her life wanted parents who would be there and that the killer was greedy fool, just like her father. Of course, that does not apply to just the culprit here, but to any criminal as well. Besides, even though none of us are born evil, there is rarely, if ever, a criminal that became one out of selflessness in our society. Each and every one of them gave in their greed for one reason or another. That is exactly where the motives of money and revenge fall under. This reminds me of the museum director's parting words in episode 8. The victim may have been a demon, but the fact that the culprit killed him also makes him demon. It would be another story if it were in self-defense, but that is not the case here, just like the museum director was not acting in self-defense in episode 8. The thing that surprised me the most though was that FUNimation changed very few name, according to Detective Conan World. When FUNimation was still dubbing the series, names were changed right and left, no matter whether the character was minor or not, which is one of the reasons Jimmy is not called Shinichi Kudo, which is the name I used on my wiki entry for the series, and Mace Fuller, the inept detective chasing KID in Magic Kaito, is not called Ginzo Nakamori, his Japanese name according to Detective Conan World. Here, on the other hand, only two people had complete name changes and they were father and son. The rest all had the same treatment as Jimmy, who only retains his last name in FUNimation's dub. This makes me wonder if FUNimation will finally go the Viz Media route, if they ever do dub the materials from episodes 124+ (Japanese count), which is manga exclusive in the US at the time I wrote this review. However, I do not think that FUNimation will do this again, since I hardly remember seeing the Japanese versions, if I ever have, of every episode in the range of 50+ (51+ according to FUNimation's count). I do remember seeing many in the 128+ range (Japanese count). I will eventually find out anyway, since I do remember that things were not so great after the last extended length episode that was released before FUNimation started doing the season sets, which was episode 76 (Japanese count). The fact that this was a decent filler case and FUNimation gave the characters introduced here the same treatment that Jimmy got, in terms of name changes, as well as the fact that I am reminded of the art museum director's parting words, certainly makes this seem good.

Although the episode seemed good, there were certainly some issues. First, the case was not that interesting. Like episode 42 (Japanese count), this had nothing to do with my memory. Fans of detective, mystery, and crime fiction expect to have a truly enjoyable case, not something that seems rather dull, like this one felt. Episode 43 (Japanese count) was truly exciting and made me actually want to see more. This one, however, just plain disappointed me in that department. Do the Japanese really think that it was good idea to have such dull case after a great episode? Now, Gosho Aoyama does not create great cases one after the other either, but I certainly think that the dullest case in the manga is going to be a bit better than anime filler like this one. Another thing that was not so great was that even though I said that I did not think I was creditable enough to say what was and was not obvious here, there are certainly things that were obvious. First, the bomb only damaged one room. While the Game Company Murder Case, which happens in FUNimation's third season of Detective Conan (Case Closed), has somewhat the same thing, this just seemed too precise to be done by an amateur. After all, people just cannot go around blowing up buildings whenever they want and have it only affect that spot. That is what demolition experts are for. Also, the floor the victim was on did not collapse. Unless, it was on the first floor, I do not see how a floor would not collapse if it was done by an amateur. Fortunately, I can say that this did not make culprit too obvious, like the events in episode 6 did, since I cannot find anything to support the claims made about the culprit. Outside of those, I cannot really think of anything else to complain about. The fact that the case was not that interesting and that the bomb was obviously set up by somebody with experience makes this not look so great.

Despite the good I saw, the fact that this case was not that interesting does not make it seem like it was a waste of time. I recommend fans of detective, mystery, and crime fiction, as well as fans of Detective Conan (Case Closed), to skip this, due to the fact that this case was dull. As for everyone else, this might serve as a good introduction to the series, but I think there are better cases in the series that fulfill that role.

What are your thoughts on Case Closed episode 45? Do you agree or disagree with my views? Do you have anything to add? Feel free to comment.

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